Five hundred miles of racing came down to the final feet on Sunday with Felix Rosenqvist nosing ahead of David Malukas in a photo finish at the Indianapolis 500. Malukas took the lead on the final lap by passing Marcus Armstrong. Rosenqvist, in third, was side-by-side with Armstrong for the major ity of the lap until the final corner when he pulled into second. Down the front straightaway, Rosenqvist used the draft to pull up to Malukas and pass him on the outside just before they crossed the iconic yard of bricks in the closest finish in Indy 500 history (0.0233 seconds). It was the second career IndyCar win (and first Indy 500) for the 34-year-old Rosenqvist, who drives for Meyer Shank Racing. His previous best finish at the Indy 500 was fourth, which he did in 2022 and 2025. He’s the second Swedish driver to win the race, joining Marcus Ericsson (2022). Rosenqvist was in prime position to win the race in the closing laps due to a heads-up pit strategy by his team. But while leading with eight laps to go, Caio Collet crashed and forced a red flag to bunch up the field. On the ensuing restart, Rosenqvist dropped from first to third as Armstrong (his teammate) and Malukas got by. The caution quickly came out again with four laps to go with Mick Schumacher hitting the wall, which gave Rosenqvist a second chance. Malukas capitalized on the restart as the drivers came to the white flag, pulling around Armstrong to take control into turn one of the final lap. The Meyer Shank teammates were even for most of the final lap before Rosenqvist’s aforementioned moves for the win. Malukas, 24, matched his career-best finish of second for the second straight Indy 500. Malukas’ teammate Scott McLaughlin was third to round out the podium. Sunday’s race was filled with drama from start to finish, with various stoppages for wrecks and rain over the 200 laps. The race had 70 lead changes, breaking the previous record of 68 (set in 2013). Ryan Hunter-Reay’s spin on lap 18 collected Katherine Legge, who was attempting the Indy-Charlotte double. Ed Carpenter crashed out a few laps later, followed by an incident involving Will Power. Indianapolis 500 8 hours ago Katherine Legge won't complete Indy 500-Coke 600 double after early crash Indianapolis 500 May 22, 2024 Why does the Indy 500 winner drink milk? Here's the history behind the unique tradition There was a rain delay at lap 106 with 2008 winner Scott Dixon leading, but the weather cleared and cars returned to the track. Just ten laps later, with Malukas out front, there was another brief rain delay. On the next restart, two-time Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden crashed out — and that’s where Rosenqvist’s winning strategy began. The Meyer Shank duo, along with McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, pitted and gambled on stretching their fuel mileage for just one more pit stop (compared to two for the leaders). Everything was working according to plan for Rosenqvist, O’Ward and Armstrong before Collet’s wreck with eight laps to go, as Malukas was more than 15 seconds behind and had no path to catching them. This was the second Indy 500 win for Meyer Shank Racing, with its first coming courtesy of Hélio Castroneves in 2021. Malukas’ Team Penske organization has won the race a record 20 times. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less